Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-09-02
LOVERS LEAP.
THIS ROMANTIC SPOT AT THE WHITE
AS SEEN BY H. J. D. W.
The Lovers Walk, Where Lovers Most Do
coBgregato-The Southern Girl
As He Gees Her,

They have Lovers Walk here.
They have one at every watering place,
for that matter-some sort OF stamp
ing ground for pin-feather sentiment
and the follies of maturer years being
invariably demanded by the watering
place public. This one, however, is
remarkable. No amatory cindertrac
in the country can in the least compare
with it. Ii it is beautiful in the eyes OF
robust young invalids with the heart
disease, it is even more so 10 the vision
not inierfered with 10y those valvuiar
irregularities commonly supposed TO
invariably accompany the advent of
the divine passion.
1t winds by sinuous turns around the
brow of the hill back Of that row of
cabins which is ironically called Para
disc. 1t is densely and beautifully
wooded, the branches meeting over
head and forming leafy arcade through
all The long half mile. The hill, thickly
grown, falls almost perpendicularly
downward at the outer edge of the
walk, and through the leafy openings
beautiful vistas of mountain gorge and
upland meadow are visible. At night
the scene would almost induce a man
TO propose to the wife of his dearest
friend. The harvest moon bathes all
the upland wales in soft luminous mists.
in the distance Of the valleys below it
II light shines here and there and
white cottage on the hillside stands
out still and picture. like from its
environment ofpine and maple. 4 cow
bell tinkles, far but musical, in the
night. In the Lovers Walk all is
deathly still. Leaf and branch is
black patterned on the yellow of the
pathway. Through irregular aisles in
the woods the moonlight falls, reflected
in many luminous spots upon the giis-
tcning faces of the upturned leaves
Byron said that there was something
particularly mischievous in moonlight,
and took exceptions to the preterna-
turally good reputation which that
chaste planet had prior to his time en-
ioyod. He probably knew whereof he
spoke. At any rate the moon of the
South is quite as busy as the New Eng
land orb, if not buster, and all the sea-
son long the matrimonial pops have
been as continuous as fire-crackers on
Chinese Ncw-Year's.
There is Lovers Leap, OF course.
The leap has never been copyrighted,
and every well-regulated watering-place
has one Of these also. A pleasant de-
gree of variety appears in the present
case from the fact that it was the man
who jumped. He proposed to her or
she proposed to him, and she accepted
him or be rejected her, and he jumped
of and sprained his ankle or bent his
spine or broke his neck, or something
like that. One or all Of these is the
tue story. Other accounts say that he
preferred the quicker and more painless
plunge to the plunge matrimonial, and
others still that she was as black rs the
Queen Of Spades and he made a mis-
take in the dark, as men sometimes
Will. The legend is important, how
ever, not only because you can cook 1t
to suit yourself, which is a rare priyi-
lege here. but also because it does not
cost any thing-a still rarer occurrence
and probably an oversight on the part
Of the management.
In all directions, wherever two tree
trunks are close together, are little
wooden seats. by a singular CO.
incidence these seats all hold exactly
two persons. There are some larger
ones in a lemarkably good state of
as compared with the
smaller whicf hold four or five. The
trees near by are covered with frag-
ments of the alphabet indicating the
presence of the young gentleman who
Enjoys the double richness of lady
love and a iackknife at the same time.
Carving "A young lady's name on help
less tree is in one sense a sappy proceed
ng, hut is said by those who know to
be Of prOdioiOus effectiveness at GER
tain stages OF developing tcndrcSsc.
Cupid's Office hours are from / to 8 |
p. NJ. At that period You may walk |
.lowly but steadily through the Lovers
Walk and see nobody. II You stop |
anywhere, however. a curious phenome-
non will occur. Above n bush or be-
hind leafy embrasure there will first |
appear n dark inch of reached hair |
Standing on end like its parent hair
brush. This will be followed by fore
head. this by young mans eyebrows, |
and these i'll due course of time by his |
eyes. The latter will regard you with
curiosity mingled with annoyance, and |
a visible interrogation point in each |
will mutely inqEire what in thunder |
you are dong around there, and what
your general excuse for living is, any
how. ThereupOn you avert your eyes
aud resume your saunter. You become |
aware that she is there also. You infer
hat when you interrupted them her
eyes, as she sat on the secluded bench,
we're timidly dOwncast with a shrinking |
timidity born of long experience, and |
hat he was narrating a catalogue OF |
virtues which be had discovered in her
mind and heart, which catalogue he |
had discovered so often in other girls as |
10 be able TO detect it on the shortest |
possible acquaintance. For it must be
" whispered in the lowest possible tone |
hat the Southern Girl is the most ac-
of all coquettes, while the
Southern Young Man is but very few
steps behind her in the art of senti-
mental duelling. Consequently the
Lovers Walk is immensely popular.
Lovers are like quail in one sense. Sc
GUIDED upon bench in covert they |
show no sign of their presence as long |
as you keep moving. Stop, however,
and they are instantly disturbed. /
The Southern Girl is a type peculiar
TO the soil. She resembles no other
young lady in the country. In thought,
manner, and methods she has distinct
and could be picked out
with ease in multitude.
Asa rule she is slender and strong. |
She is reasonably well modelled, II ten
lency to tigbt-lscing among the tradi-
lions OF her people having had its natu-
raj effect to some extent upon her
figure. She is generally good-looking |
md very often handsome. Her ner-
vous pesonality is of value in this direc-
lion, for her eyes are bright and her
quick. She is as u rule |